Female contacts are usually arranged in a male housing. They are comprised of a reception section intended for holding male contacts arranged in a female housing and a crimping section intended for the connection of electric wire by crimping the wire in place. As shown in the FIGS. 8-9, a prior art female contact 10 is formed by bending a conductive flat metal sheet. It has J-shaped contacting members 12 and a spring-loaded contacting tab 14 formed to receive a male contact 20. The spring-loaded contacting tab 14 strongly clamps the male contact 20 against the U-shaped tubular contacting members 12.
The male contact 20 is usually inserted in the female contact 10 parallel to the direction of connection as shown by the arrow 22. However, in some cases, it is inserted at an angle to the spring-loaded contacting tab 14. In such cases, the tip of the male contact 20 exerts a strong force on the spring-loaded contacting tab 14. If the reaction produced by this force exceeds the limit of elasticity of the spring-loaded contacting tab 14, then the tab will undergo plastic deformation. In order to avoid plastic deformation, stopping shoulders 16 formed from the side walls of the contacting members 12 and extending inside are provided as shown in Japanese Patent Publication 83-62564. However, since these stopping shoulders 16 are made in the form of cantilevered elements having a support only at one end, they are subjected to deformation if an excessive force is applied to the spring-loaded contacting tab 14 and thus making the stopping shoulders 16 unsuitable for the anti-overstress function.
As an alternative, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication 89-38777, a female contact 30 has been offered (FIGS. 10-12) in which a boss 36 is formed from the bottom wall 34 under the spring-loaded tab 32. Due to the configuration of boss 36, it is able to withstand a large amount of stress. However, this alternative requires the use of sheet metal materials that are limited to the materials suitable for excessive forming treatment and therefore materials with a high modulus of elasticity cannot be employed. This makes it impossible to form a spring-loaded contacting tab by bending a metal sheet having a high modulus of elasticity which would be able to strongly hold a male contact. Another disadvantage is that it is very difficult to produce and maintain a precise height of the formed boss when its height is large.
The purpose of this invention is to overcome the disadvantages of the previous mentioned female contacts by offering a new design of a female contact equipped with a protrusion performing functions of overstress protection and with a spring-loaded contacting section which is not subject to deformation under high stress forces. In order to achieve this purpose, the female contact according to this invention comprises a bottom wall extending in the direction of connection, a spring-loaded contacting section extending to the back above the bottom wall from the front end of the bottom wall, side walls rising from the sides of the bottom wall, and a protrusion formed by a portion of the side wall between two parallel cuts preferably parallel to the bottom wall, in at least one of the side walls, which extends between the bottom wall and the spring-loaded contacting section.